The impact that the scale of planned housing and economic growth will have on existing health infrastructure needs to be carefully reviewed, and where improvements and/or new facilities are required to meet the needs of this new population, this should be supported through appropriate developer contributions.

The NHS, Council and other partners must work together to forecast the infrastructure and costs required to support the projected growth and development across the borough. A vital part of this is ensuring the NHS continues to receive a commensurate share of S106 and Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) developer contributions to mitigate the impacts of growth and help deliver transformation plans. The cross-boundary impacts of developments also need to be considered, where NHS services often span multiple Local Planning Authority Boundaries.

The cumulative impact of the additional proposed site allocations, on top of those already allocated, needs to be carefully considered. It should be noted that the way in which health care services are delivered is constantly shifting, most recently highlighted by the coronavirus pandemic. It is essential that the mitigation to meet the needs of this new population is flexible to meet any changing NHS care model, particularly as this development is likely to come forward over a number of years.

Planning policy should support the need to deliver homes for NHS staff to meet need, particularly in areas where there is pressure on affordability which is impacting on the ability to attract and retain key staff.